Purpose: The purpose of WIA Title IB dislocated worker program is to provide services to individuals who have been terminated or laid off, or have received notice of termination or layoff, from employment generally due to plant closures or downsizing; and who meet the dislocated worker definition of a displaced homemaker.

Eligibility: Individuals who have been terminated or laid off, or have received notice of termination or layoff; who meet attachment to the workforce criteria, but are not eligible for unemployment insurance and are not are likely to return to a previous industry or occupation; have received a general notice of the facility closure within 180 days; or is a displaced homemaker; may be eligible for services under the dislocated worker program. A displaced homemaker, for dislocated worker eligibility purposes, is an individual who has been providing unpaid services to family members in the home, has been dependent on the income of another family member and is no longer supported by that income and is unemployed or underemployed and is experiencing difficulty in obtaining or upgrading employment.

Services: Core, intensive and training services are available to assist dislocated workers transition from layoff to work in the least amount of time possible. If workers have skills that are in demand in the labor market, simply accessing the core services of job search and placement assistance and useful labor market information may be sufficient to help them get back into the workforce quickly. However, intensive and training services may be provided when a determination is made that the individual is in need of services beyond core. Workers are retrained with skills that are in demand by Arizona's employers which help the State economy to grow.

Administration: The Arizona Department of Economic Security has statewide oversight responsibilities of the WIA Dislocated Worker Program in Arizona. These responsibilities include fiscal controls, grant management, participant data collection and tracking, reporting to the U.S. Department of Labor, monitoring, service provider training, technical assistance and policy interpretation and development. The Workforce Investment Act requires that state governors reserve a portion of the dislocated worker funding allotted to the state for Rapid Response activities. In Arizona ten percent of the dislocated worker allotment is reserved for statewide Rapid Response activities. Fifteen percent is reserved for the governor’s set aside to be used for statewide activities and the remaining seventy-five percent is passed through to the local workforce investment areas for dislocated worker services and activities.

Rapid Response is a required activity designed to assist workers who are facing loss of employment through a permanent closure or mass layoff, or a natural or other disaster that results in mass job dislocation to obtain reemployment as soon as possible. Rapid Response activities include: establishing onsite contact with employers and employee representatives upon notification of a current or projected permanent closure or mass layoff; or in the case of a disaster, immediately after the State is made aware of mass job dislocation as a result of such disaster; provision of information and access to available employment and training activities; assistance in establishing a labor-management committee; provide emergency assistance adapted to the particular closure, layoff, disaster; and the provision of assistance to the local community in developing a coordinated response. The DES has oversight responsibilities of all Rapid Response activities and the Governor has designated the local workforce investment areas as the providers of Rapid Response services and activities.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Programauxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities